Personal firearms, such as rifles, shotguns and pistols are typically aimed at targets using some form of sighting device which is fixed to the gun in alignment with the sight line of the gun barrel. In such a manner, the gun's barrel may be brought to bear on a visually acquired target so that a high likelihood exists that the target will be hit when the gun is discharged.
In order to improve the sight qualities, there have been numerous proposals in the past to include a fluorescently dyed polymeric light guide or rod in operative association with a variety of sighting devices, as evidenced by U.S. Pat. No. 2,706,335 to Munsey; U.S. Pat. No. 3,098,303 to Plisk; U.S. Pat. No. 3,949,482 to Ross; U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,158 to Santiago; U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,604 to Lorocco; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,685,081 to Winegar. The mounting structures of such prior art sights, however, are not convenient to the user and do not readily allow for field modifications and/or adjustments--particularly with respect to windage compensations.
Broadly, the present invention is embodied in gun sights having a generally semi-circular support member in cross-section provided with a lengthwise extending arcuate concavity; and a rod-shaped light guide positioned within and fixed to the arcuate concavity of the support member. The semi-circular support member may itself be provided with a generally rectangularly shaped lower channel which is especially adapted to being attached to a gun's vent rib. The semi-circular support member may alternatively be provided as a domed protuberance from a longitudinally split cylindrical band which is adapted to being sleeved over a gun's barrel. One or more of the rod-shaped light guides may be affixed within individual lengthwise concavities, in which case there is most preferably provided a central lengthwise extending concavity therebetween.
These and other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more clear after careful consideration is given to the following detailed description of the preferred exemplary embodiments thereof.